Daddy's off to war

October 13, 2013

Elinor and Irving J. Stein with daughter Linda, 2-1/2, in Los Angeles after the war. (Stein family photo)

Linda Stein didn't meet her father until she was almost 3.

Irving Stein was drafted and shipped off to war seven weeks before she was born. Her mother, Elinor, moved in with her parents in Oak Park, where she gave birth to Linda in February 1943. "It was rough, but she had a lot of family support," said Linda, who now lives in New York City. "She was able to write my dad a lot."

One of those letters came courtesy of the Chicago Tribune. On Easter 1943, the newspaper gathered photos and greetings from families whose fathers missed the births of their children and sent them by V-mail to the overseas papas. Linda's father, Irving, was posted in London.

Still, it was difficult for mother and daughter. "Whenever anybody in a uniform came near me, I would ask, 'Are you my daddy?'" Linda said.

Despite being quite young, she says she vividly recalls meeting her father in 1945.

"I remember I had a cold; it was November. I had on a blue bathrobe and I was sitting on the couch," she said. It was at night, and suddenly there he was, she said. "He was very emotional," Linda recalled.

She said she became very attached to her father, who quickly made up for lost time. "He was a very hands-on daddy," she said.